Considered by many to be the oldest castle in Naples, Castel dell’Ovo juts out into the bay of Naples on the isle of Megaride. According to legend, the Siren Partenope drowned herself after failing to lure Ulysses into her trap, and her body washed up here on this tiny isle. Coincidentally, this is the same siren who gave Naples its first name, Partenope.
Castel dell’Ovo means literally ‘the castle of the egg,’ so one may wonder what precisely and egg has to do with ancient fortifications. Historically, it was made famous by the Roman poet Virgil and his magical, mythical egg. Legend has it that he placed an egg into a glass jar, ensconced the jar in a metal cage and hid that cage beneath the castle. So long as the egg remained safe and intact, the city nearby would remain intact as well. Regardless of the veracity of such a tale, the sight of broken eggshells in the castle’s courtyard caused more than a little concern among Neapolitan natives throughout the Middle Ages.
Incidentally, Virgil stayed there long before the castle was ever built. Before Castel dell’Ovo was constructed, Virgil lived there in the Castellum Luculanum. This expansive villa was built by a Roman patrician, Lucius Licinius, and functioned as a Roman playground for the rich and famous. Eventually, it lost its allure for the Roman aristocracy and was converted into a fort by Emperor Valentinian III somewhere in the middle of the fifth century A.D. Later that century, this fortress was home to the last Roman Emperor, Romolus Augustolus, where he was exiled until his death. As time went on, its advantageous location prompted later owners to improve its fortifications and eventually drew the attention of Roger the Norman, who finally transformed it into a castle in the twelfth century to fend off Saracen invaders. From then on, many others who possessed the castle added their own personal additions.
Today, the prison cells are gone and its strategic value has vanished. The halls of the castle are free to roam. When you are in Naples and you are finished eating your Napolitano pizza, take a walk down to the water and search for the egg in this ancient castle. It is an interesting feeling, wandering through the grand corridors and narrow walkways looking for the same mythical egg as uncounted numbers of people have done for two millennia.
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